Compliance Will Be Rewarded
by klutzysunshine
Summary: Spoilers and speculation for the finale. While they are fighting, Bobbi discovers Ward may not have been completely in control of his actions these past few weeks.


**I don't own Agents of SHIELD nor will I ever. No copyright infringement intended.**

* * *

Bobbi was kicking Grant's ass pretty thoroughly when Kara tore into the room with a look of purpose in her widened eyes. Bobbi let the former specialist drop to the ground as he looked back and forth between them, confused. "What is going on?" he murmured. Something felt off and he didn't know what.

Kara faced Grant. "Take a deep breath. Calm your mind - compliance will be rewarded," she ordered.

"Kara, what the hell are you doing to him?" a shocked Bobbi questioned. What was even happening here? She didn't understand.

"Making him comply. That's what Whitehall wanted me to do before he died but I just changed the game a little. I needed Grant's help to take down Hydra - and take revenge on you for helping brainwash me - and I got it."

"So he's been brainwashed the entire time you two have been together? Kara, that's not right."

"Like what you did to me is right?" she snapped.

Bobbi held up her hands in surrender. "Good point. I'll never be able to forgive myself for that. But revenge isn't the answer. You did the exact same thing to Ward that I did to you. Don't you see that?"

Kara shook her head. "You're trying to distract me so I don't kill you and it's not going to work."

"I just want to help you. Hydra clearly fucked you up. I know the woman you were before and she would hate this version of you." The dazed look in Grant's face worried Bobbi but she'd try her best to help both of them.

"You don't know me. I don't need your pity!" Kara couldn't believe Bobbi was even attempting to try to gain her forgiveness because it wasn't going to work. She and Grant would stick to the plan.

"How'd you do it?"

She rolled her eyes but played around. "It was actually pretty easy. And then I let him think he was in charge when I actually was this entire time. He didn't want to kill anybody - wanted to wipe his ledger clean, he said - but he did it without any complaints. And yeah, he broke through sometimes - like the times he went on those missions with Coulson and the whole team - but I got Grant under control again. And the worst part? He didn't even realize it! It was the perfect plan."

Bobbi stared in horror at her former friend. "Kara, I know this isn't your fault but I'm pretty sure you're still brainwashed. I don't know how it happened but just let me help," she begged.

Kara didn't believe a word out of her mouth. "Somebody want to explain why I'm not getting my ass kicked anymore? I mean, I appreciate it but I'd like to know when it's going to continue," Grant said sarcastically.

"Don't worry about a thing, Ward. I'm going to get all of us out of here without any major injuries," Bobbi replied.

"Not a chance." Kara raised her gun and went to fire but Bobbi ducked down and quickly grabbed Grant's instead. She fired a shot and watched with tears in her eyes as Kara collapsed.

Bobbi crawled over to her side and even though she knew Kara was dead, she felt for a pulse that wasn't there with shaking hands.

Grant started to moan with grief as he stood up and staggered over to their sides. "Kara?" he asked, trying to futilely shake her awake.

"I'm sorry, Ward. I'm so sorry, Kara. I'm so sorry," Bobbi sobbed. She hated that she had to take this last resort but Kara would have killed them both.

Grant picked Kara up and held her in his arms. "I tried my best to protect her," he told Bobbi.

"I know you did. You're not to blame and neither is she. Kara was just too far gone and nothing was going to bring her back," she soothed. Kara hadn't deserved anything that happened to her since Hydra rose and Bobbi would always blame herself for this. "But Ward, we need to go. Are you okay enough to fly us out of here?"

"Can we take her body with us? She deserves a proper burial," he murmured and then winced as one of his new injuries flared with pain.

"Of course." Even though he was injured, the two of them managed to get Kara's body to the quinjet and then they took off towards Afterlife to help Coulson with the battle currently going on there.

He greeted the three of them with a look of dawning horror and confusion his face. "What the hell happened here?"

Grant waved. "Hi." He was ready to pass out on the controls but refrained from doing so because he knew he needed to help. He couldn't let anyone down. He still felt a little foggy and wanted to hate Bobbi for killing Kara but he realized that she had done it to save them.

Bobbi sighed. "He needs deprogrammed because Kara brainwashed him. Although I'm still mad at this fucker because he shot with me the ICER four times and then tried to torture me. Bobbi doesn't like needles!"

"Sorry. And why are you talking about yourself in third person?" Grant knew he had to make a lot more apologies too - he was only just beginning with those. He told the team he regretted his actions but hadn't actually apologized for that so it needed to be corrected as soon as possible.

"Hell if I know."

"Well we can use all the help we can get. Grant, we'll talk about this later and get you deprogrammed but we need you. The Inhumans are definitely outnumbering us and they're powerful."

Grant staggered out of his chair and followed them out of the quinjet only to be greeted by Skye. "I heard everything. You okay?" she questioned.

He nodded. "I will be, I think."

"Good. Let's go." She smiled at them and then hurried off to go find Jiaying.

"So this explains a lot, actually - like why you and Kara were Bonnie and Clyde-ing it across the world," Bobbi told Grant before they hurried to join the battle erupting all around them.

"I knew something was off but I couldn't figure out what," he admitted. "I'm sorry again, Bobbi."

"Yeah, keep apologizing. But we'll worry about this another time. We have to go now," she encouraged.

And that's when they joined the fray and the tide finally started to turn against the Inhumans. By the time the battle was over, everything had changed for the team in various ways. And due to Bobbi and Grant's prodding, Phil gave Kara a proper burial because she really couldn't be held liable for her actions. And it took a while but Grant was deprogrammed and started his journey down the road of redemption.


End file.
